Vyapam scam: HC defers govt’s plea for CBI probe till July 20

Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court today deferred till July 20 the hearing on the plea of the state government seeking handing over the Vyapam scam probe to CBI.

A division bench of the MP High Court comprising Chief Justice Ajay Manikrao Khankilwar and Justice Alok Aradhe deferred the hearing on the ground that the Supreme Court is to hear a clutch of similar pleas tomorrow, Additional Advocate General (AAG) P Kaurav told PTI.

According to Kaurav, the MP government’s plea states that following the “recent unfortunate incidents” related to Vyapam, it wants a CBI probe into the scam.

The plea says MP police’s Special Task Force was efficiently probing the scam under supervision of the Special Investigation Team headed by a retired High Court judge Chandresh Bhushan, appointed by the HC.

But, with “the recent unfortunate developments” and demand from certain quarters and to clear the air”, the government was seeking a CBI probe into it, it said.

The Supreme Court had yesterday agreed to hear tomorrow the plea of Congress leader Digvijay Singh and three whistle-blowers — Ashish Chaturvedi, Anand Rai and Prashant Pandey — seeking a CBI probe into the scam.

The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government had yesterday requested the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jabalpur for a CBI inquiry in the scandal which is said to have claimed over 40 lives.

At least five people associated with the Vyapam scam have died under mysterious circumstances over the past one week.